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Irad Ortiz, Jr. Talks Life Is Good, Recent Suspension On Writers’ Room

It was an eventful few months for three-time Eclipse champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. Shortly after scoring a hat trick of victories at the Breeders' Cup, Ortiz was suspended 30 days for careless riding at Aqueduct. Upon his return, the 29-year-old picked up where he left off at Gulfstream, piloting winners left and right and over the weekend, added two more seven-figure Grade I wins to his trophy collection with victories in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. on back-to-back winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) and Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. aboard emergent superstar Life Is Good (Into Mischief). Tuesday, the sometimes polarizing rider sat down with the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his success, his suspension, his rise to the top of the game and whether or not he pays attention to either the positive or negative attention he receives from racing fans.

“Honestly, I know my horse is fast, but I never thought I was going to be on the lead by three or four lengths,” Ortiz said when asked if he was surprised by how easily Life Is Good outran presumptive Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter) in the Pegasus. “But that's racing. [Sometimes] after the gates open, everything changes. I let him go into the first turn and then I just used my judgment. He was feeling good, he was running relaxed and going the right way, so I just didn't mess with him, I let him do his thing and keep going. The difference between him and some other horses; some other horses can go fast and hold their speed for six furlongs or a mile, but he can stay the distance. It's really hard to find a horse that can stay with his same speed and finish the way he finishes.”

Asked about the 30-day suspension he was handed by New York Racing Association stewards for a Dec. 3 incident in which he crowded a horse on the rail, causing apprentice jockey Omar Hernandez Moreno to fall off his mount, Ortiz took responsibility and said he had no issue with the punishment.

“We learn from our mistakes,” he said. “I made a mistake, it was not intentional, but I'm grateful and glad that the kid is okay. The stewards did their job. I agreed with them 100%. They gave me 30 days and I took it right away, I didn't say anything because I knew I made a mistake, so I'll pay for it. That's why they're there, to watch everybody and try to keep all the jockeys safe. I'm not perfect, I'm human, and now I'll just turn the page, learn from it and try not to do that again.”

Ortiz was also asked to reflect on his meteoric rise to the top of racing and whether or not he foresaw this level of success when he first came over to the U.S. in the late 2000s.

“I'm grateful and I thank god I am where I am, but when you get here, there are a lot of good jockeys,” he said. “I work hard, but you never know what's going to happen. Are you going to get the opportunities right away or not? Sometimes it'll take you five, six, seven, eight years until people start giving you a chance. So I always had big dreams, but I never pressured myself like, 'I have to be there.' It never was like that. I just worked step by step and tried to do the right thing every time someone gave me an opportunity. And that's the way we did it. My agent, Steve Rushing, does a great job, and since I started working with him, everything changed a little bit. I got better numbers. I got better chances. We got better horses. You need a little bit of everything: you need a good agent, you need to do the right thing, you need the right horses and you need the opportunity from the owners and trainers.”

Elsewhere on a jam-packed show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, Lane's End, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, XBTV and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers discussed the courtroom drama in Seth Fishman's doping trial, the back-and-forth of the Bob Baffert vs. NYRA hearings and T.D. Thornton's comparison of racing's current era to the steroid era in baseball. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Fishman Found Guilty; Faces Up to 20 Years in Prison

Florida veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman, the first person to face trial in a sweeping horse-doping case that documented the widespread use of illegal and undetectable performance-enhancing drugs at tracks across the country, was convicted in New York Feb. 2 on charges that could put him behind bars for 20 years.

A jury of eight women and four men in U.S. District Court in Manhattan found Fishman, 50, guilty of two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of PEDS administered to racehorses by corrupt trainers for money and fame.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil will sentence Fishman May 5.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi told the judge prosecutors would be seeking to detain Fishman pending sentencing.

The verdict came swiftly. Jurors got the case late Feb. 1 and deliberated for about three hours Tuesday and Wednesday. The trial began with jury selection Jan. 19 and lasted 11 days.

The jury rejected Fishman's defense that his actions were in keeping with his oath as a licensed veterinarian to protect the health and welfare of animals.

“I understand the jury has reached a verdict,” Vyskocil said after the jury filed in the wood-paneled courtroom on the 26th floor of the courthouse.

The jury's foreperson then announced Fishman's guilt on each of the counts.

“I love animals. I love horses,” one of the jurors, Victoria Lopez, a 61-year-old woman from The Bronx, said in an interview following the verdict. “What they were doing wasn't right.”

“The jury's swift conviction of Seth Fishman reflects the overwhelming evidence of his guilt as displayed through this trial,” New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release issued from his office. “As an ostensible veterinarian–sworn to the care and protection of animals–Fishman cynically violated his oath in service of corrupt trainers and in the pursuit of profits.”

Williams added, “Through the sale of untested, unsafe, and unstable drugs, Fishman's illegal drug business was a platform for both fraud and animal abuse. Today's conviction appropriately condemns the danger inherent in Fishman's crimes and underscores the seriousness with which this office takes the kind of abuse that Fishman practiced.”

Stuart S. Janney III, chairman of The Jockey Club, also reacted to the verdict.

“I am pleased to see all of the effort and time spent by federal agents, prosecutors, and others who have worked so hard on this case be rewarded with a guilty verdict, and I thank them for their commitment,” Janney said in a statement distributed by TJC. “It is highly encouraging to know that those who cheat and endanger our sport's athletes, both equine and human, face meaningful and life-changing punishments. Clearly, this verdict will serve as a deterrent to others, and it also provides hope for those who want to see true change in the racing industry. This step forward, one of many recently, reflects our steadfast determination towards maintaining the highest levels of integrity and safety for racing's athletes and customers.”

Fishman wasn't in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. Vyskocil hasn't said in open court where he is. A cryptic comment from Fishman's attorney to the judge led to speculation Fishman may be in a hospital.

Fishman had a co-defendant Lisa Giannelli, at the start of the trial. She worked with Fishman for 18 years, and prosecutors accused her of being Fishman's drug distributor. On Jan. 24, Vyskocil declared a mistrial in her case after her attorney tested positive for COVID-19.

Nearly two years ago, Williams' office charged Fishman, six other veterinarians, 11 trainers, and nine others, identified as PED distributors, with conspiring dope horses in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and the United Arab Emirates.

The investigation began in 2018 and was headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and criminal investigators with the Food and Drug Administration.

At the time of the indictment, then-New York U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said the case was “the most far-reaching prosecution of racehorse doping in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

At a March 2020 press conference announcing the indictments, FBI New York assistant director in charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said the doping conspiracy risked the health of horses administered PEDs.

“What happened to these horses amounted to nothing less than abuse,” Sweeney said.

Those charged included top trainer Jason Servis, who federal prosecutors say juiced multi-millionaire Maximum Security, the first-place finisher in the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, who was demoted to 17th by stewards for interference with another horse in the race.

The accused also included Jorge Navarro, who was sentenced to five years in prison last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy. Prosecutors presented evidence at Fishman's trial showing that the trainer paid Fishman tens of thousands of dollars for PEDs, including a substance called BB3 that prosecutors say thickens a horse's blood to make it run faster and farther.

Navarro is one of nine charged individuals who have pled guilty. Two others who were arrested entered into non-prosecution agreements with prosecutors.

The Fishman trial revealed that another of those accused, former harness trainer Ross Cohen, struck a deal with prosecutors to become a cooperating witness.

Servis and several others have pled not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Prosecutors have said in court papers that they are in plea discussions with several defendants without naming them.

The Fishman verdict could have an impact on cases going forward.

The evidence against Fishman included witness testimony, emails and texts, and wiretap recordings that captured Fishman talking about doping horses, and bragging that his drugs wouldn't appear in post-race testing.

Prosecutors also showed the jury thousands of vials of drugs seized from Fishman's Florida company Equestology.

Two of those witnesses were harness trainer Adrienne Hall and Thoroughbred trainer Jamen Davidovich. They testified they administered PEDs to their horses obtained from Fishman. Hall testified under deferred prosecution agreement with the government. Davidovich's testimony came after he was granted immunity.

As part of their case, prosecutors also played for the jury video of Navarro's X Y Jet winning the $2.5 million G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News in Dubai in 2019. X Y Jet died of a heart attack a year later, Navarro said in a statement shortly after the incident.

“Thank you boss, [you're] a big part of it,” Navarro said in a text exchange with Fishman just after the 2019 Golden Shaheen.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Fishman Case Heads to Jury

A New York jury began deliberations Feb. 1 in the horse doping trial of Dr. Seth Fishman.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about 30 minutes before retiring for the night without reaching a verdict. They resume deliberations the morning of Feb. 2.

The charges against Fishman, a 50-year-old Florida veterinarian, stem from a federal government crackdown on horse doping at tracks across the country in which more than two dozen individuals were indicted. Those charged include top trainer Jason Servis, who is awaiting trial, and Jorge Navarro, who was sentenced to five years in the case after pleading guilty.

Prosecutors say racehorse trainers at Thoroughbred and harness tracks juiced their horses with performance-enhancing drugs manufactured by Fishman and designed to elude post-race testing. They say Navarro was one of Fishman's clients.

At the start of the trial's 10th day Tuesday, jurors noted Fishman's absence in the courtroom for a second straight day. They weren't told where he was, and Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil advised them not to speculate on his absence.

“Please don't draw any inference as to why he may be absent,” she said.

The panel spent most of the day listening to prosecutors and defense attorney Maurice Sercarz clash over the evidence in the case.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi addressed the jury first and began by saying that Fishman built “a multi-million drug business through deceit.”

“You know what the defendant Seth Fishman is all about,” she said. “His business was to peddle adulterated and misbranded drugs, performance-enhancing drugs designed by him to cheat horse racing.”

Re-emphasizing evidence submitted during the trial, she paused to play a 2019 Federal Bureau of Investigation wiretap. In that recording, Fishman says that anytime you give something to a horse you are not supposed to, that's doping.

Mortazavi said another wiretap quoted Fishman as saying he was cheating the system.

“If someone says they are trying to cheat the system, that's what they are doing,” the prosecutor said.

A few minutes later, Mortazavi held a drug vial that had been seized from Fishman's business in 2018 and showed it to the jury.

“We're not talking about hay, oats, and apples,” she said.

Mortazavi said there was overwhelming evidence of Fishman's guilt. The prosecution's case included witness testimony, emails, text messages, and dozens of wiretap recordings. Three of the witnesses were trainers who said Fishman supplied them with PEDs.

To prove its case, the prosecution must prove that Fishman defrauded or misled others over the course of the alleged conspiracy.

Mortazavi said the evidence showed Fishman tried to defraud and mislead the Food and Drug Administration by registering his corporation in Panama.

She said the evidence also shows how Fishman tried to avoid scrutiny by racing regulators.

She reviewed a text quoting Fishman saying “absolutely not” when asked if an order of PEDs should be sent to an address at a track.

“Why not send it to the racing office,” Fishman wrote, apparently in jest.

“LOL,” was the response from Fishman's business associate Lisa Gianelli.

She was being tried with Fishman, but a mistrial was declared in her case last week after her attorney tested positive for COVID-19.

Sercarz argued to the jury that there was insufficient proof from the government that his client defrauded or misled.

“Did he do something to violate racing regulations? Yes, but intent to defraud or mislead?” Sercarz said.

He contended Fishman's actions were those of someone acting in good faith and who, as a licensed vet, had the horses' best interests in mind.

“Seth Fishman improvidently chose to live in a rough neighborhood among racehorse owners and trainers bent on cheating,” Sercarz said.

“I submit it was Dr. Fishman who was trying to wean horses off much more dangerous stuff and provide a safer alternative while adhering to his oath as a licensed vet to protect the welfare and safety of animals.”

After Sercarz finished, prosecutors had the final say. Prosecutor Andrew Adams stood up and asked the jury to reject his adversary's argument.

“He doesn't have much to work with,” Adams said. “He's not a magician. He can't make the evidence disappear.”

The prosecutor told the jury that Fishman's actions weren't about helping racehorses but about helping his clients make money and cheat race regulators.

“He was a drug dealer, not a veterinarian,” Adams said.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Fishman Absent From Court After Wiretaps Reveal Him Bragging About Dubai Sales

Closing arguments were a late scratch Jan. 31 in the horse doping trial of veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman being held in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

New York U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil met the lawyers for both sides in the robing room, then called the jury into the courtroom and sent them home. She told the jurors to return to court Tuesday.

“There has developed legal issues that need to be dealt with,” Vyskocil told the jury of eight women and four men.

But Fishman's absence in court only deepened the mystery. His wife, Hanna, was in the courtroom in the morning and at one point appeared to be visibly upset. Fishman is free on $100,000 bond and has appeared in court for each of the trial's previous eight sessions.

The only other clue as to what was happening came when Fishman attorney Maurice Sercarz appeared in the courtroom after the jury had been dismissed and told the judge Fishman was on his way to the hospital.

“We are in open court,” Vyskocil said to Sercarz in admonishment.

Sercarz and his co-counsel Marc Fernich and prosecutors declined further comment.

Lawyers showed up in the afternoon for another conference in the robing room. The day ended with Vyskocil never returning to the bench.

Closing arguments in Fishman's trial were set to begin after the prosecution rested its case and the defense rested without calling a single witness, including Fishman. The jury has heard five days of testimony from 11 government witnesses, as well as an FBI wiretap in which convicted trainer Jorge Navarro was recorded speaking to Fishman.

Another prominent name that emerged in court in one of the wiretaps was that of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the owner of the internationally successful Godolphin racing stable.

On the wiretap, Fishman appears to discuss a $2-million “program” with the Sheikh's hospital in Dubai, known as Dubai Equine. On the other end of the line in the 2019 call was Florida harness trainer Adrienne Hall, who testified Thursday that Fishman put her on a program with his PEDs and that she administered the drugs to a horse that won a low-level claiming race. Hall agreed to testify in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.

A transcript of the wiretap obtained Monday begins with Fishman telling Hall that his program “is not instantaneous.”

“Right, so ok, because they are racing on Sunday–they are going to be in on Monday. I gave the other stuff today anyway,” Hall says.
Fishman then goes on to say that it takes one or two weeks to start things.

“This is a program,” he says. “This is a program that Dubai Equine spent probably $2 million devising for their Thoroughbreds, you know? It is part of a program that uh, you know…there's other stuff too.”

Fishman goes on to say that he was bringing Hall on slowly.

Fishman adds, “This is what they do for all their horses and overall, they are very happy. Sheikh Mohammed Maktoum said the best three years, you know, in the 30 years he has been racing and they are very happy. So, I'm sharing stuff with you. But then again that's for Thoroughbreds so we just have to tweak something out because some of the stuff I design for Standardbreds, they don't work.”

It was unclear if Fishman was simply trying to impress Hall; a Godolphin spokesman said they would have no comment Monday night.

Fishman, 50, is on trial on for conspiring to violate medication adulteration and misbranding laws. He's accused of supplying horse trainers with illegal performance-enhancing drugs designed to evade testing by racing regulators in various states, including Florida, New York, and Kentucky.

Sercarz says the actions his client has been accused of were carried out to protect the health and welfare of horses in keeping with his oath as a licensed veterinarian.

Prosecutors allege that Fishman was part of a sweeping conspiracy to dope racehorses that included top trainers Navarro and Jason Servis and two dozen others. The New York U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charges in March 2020.

Servis is awaiting trial and Navarro has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty. Servis's name hasn't come up in testimony, but Navarro's name has come up numerous times. Prosecutors said Navarro paid Fishman tens of thousands of dollars for PEDs.

The jury also saw a video of Navarro's doped X Y Jet (Kantharos) winning the $2.5-million G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2019. In a text seen by the jury after the race, Navarro thanked Fishman for his help. A tally shows the FBI's aforementioned wiretap was one of 55 recordings the jury heard in the case. Almost all of them involved Fishman.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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